By Angela Carter
New Haven Register
CHESHIRE, Conn. — A conviction on charges of robbery and possession of a firearm landed a state teen named Jahad in the all-male Manson Youth Institution for 3 1/2 years.
During a recent Pre-Release Resource Fair at Manson, the 19-year- old said that events like the fair help him and other inmates piece their lives back together in a lasting way.
“Some don’t really know how,” he said of starting over in a world that has changed rapidly during their incarceration. “This is giving me the information that I need to succeed. It gives us the basics in how to do it.”
Jahad (the state Department of Correction restricted the release of his last name and hometown) encouraged other youths to avoid his pitfalls, especially abandoning moral lessons taught at home.
“I ended up here because I wanted to follow the wrong crowd,” he said. “If you be a leader and stay true to yourself, you can’t go wrong. Follow how you were brought up and you won’tup in jail. I think the world gets to people.”
Manson is a level 4, high-security prison that serves as the state Department of Correction’s primary facility for housing inmates under 21.
In 1994, the state added a 155,000-square-foot H.E.T. (Health Education & Training) building with 22 classrooms, a library, vocational education programming, a full-sized gymnasium, a chapel, mental health and medical facilities, a full production kitchen, a laundry and a warehouse.
Principal Kim Holley said students within six months of discharge attend resource fairs where they connect with community agencies that can assist them with needs such as reconnecting with family, employment and training, furthering their education, housing, pardons, medical and/or mental health services.
“I want to go to school for marketing and computer technology,” Jahad said.
There are more than 600 inmates at Manson and those 14 to 17 must go to school every day, Holley said. Department of Correction education programs are called Unified District #1, and students can earn credits toward a GED or a diploma, if they will be released in time to re-matriculate at a high school back home.
Education services for adult inmates are voluntary, and re-entry services are voluntary for both juveniles and adults systemwide.
Jahad said he’s earned a GED.
Debra Snedeker, re-entry transition facilitator for Unified School District #1, said DOC operates 21-day re-entry programs at eight facilities to make sure inmates who participate leave with legal, photo identification and an individual transition plan with the contact information for people and agencies that can help them adjust to life in the community.
Re-entry programs have been offered through DOC schools for a long period of time, but they were opened to the general inmate population in July 2007. Snedeker said they are helping to reduce recidivism.
“Over 3,500 people have completed the program and only 7 percent of them have come back,” she said.
There are programs at four facilities that offer credit courses accepted by the state’s community college system, Snedeker said.
“I don’t want them to come back here,” said Freeman Holloway, transition services coordinator for Workforce Alliance in New Haven, a regional agency that provides job training and employment services. “I talk to them about taking responsibility, so that when you walk out of here you can further your education, get training or get that job.”
As attendees dressed in beige uniforms stopped at the Workforce Alliance booth for materials and to ask questions, Holloway told them to call him when they are released and keep a positive attitude, because doors may be closed on them.
“Here’s my card, make sure you do that,” he would say after fielding questions.
Snedeker said re-entry roundtables that are active in larger cities have helped DOC improve its collaboration with service providers.
Tirzah Kemp, community grant organizer with the New Have Re- entry Initiative, said there will be a resource fair at the New Haven Correctional Center at 9 a.m. Nov. 30.
Jahad was grateful he will have housing to keep him grounded as he builds a life back in society. “I have someplace to go. I’m going back to my family,” he said.
Copyright 2010 Journal Register Co.